DVD
REVIEW: BLOOD+ Volume Three
10/17/08
In Blood+ Volume Three,
Saya’s epic battle against the evil chiropterans and her
pass continues with outstanding animation, state of the art
sound, and beautiful sound track by Three time Grammy Award
Winner Mark Manzina. However, for people who have only seen
the previous two discs this volume will result in a big
disappointment. First, this volume weakly closes the Vietnam
saga in the first three episodes with less excitement than
what was expected, all the energy that was built up from
previous episodes are quickly resolved in less than 20
minutes with action sequences that were less impressive than
what we have seen so far in the series, but exciting enough
to save the series. The remaining two episodes the character
and story remains still without moving forward, or without
showing nothing new or interesting, and instead of
persuading the audience to keep watching the series, it
actually discourages them with nonsense events and
situations that takes the viewer’s mind away from the main
story. I for the first time in this series, felt bored and
sleepy watching it. The problem I found with this part of
the story is that with all the possibilities the plot had,
it seems that the writers decided to play it safe, also the
character did not evolved at all like Riku’s ability was
unexplained and left behind, Saya‘s past was not addressed,
and her abilities did not seem to improve. The knew
characters were just there, nothing was introduced only
their names and meaningless interactions with the main
character were, which make them somehow tedious, let us hope
in the next episodes they get more involved. The Phantom
fight was very predictable and as for the resolution, many
people would find it exasperated, nonetheless, it shows some
sick scenes and blood in the process like the one involving
little kids in the third episode and a new level of enemies
like Solomon and Diva that leaves the main story open for
what seems is going to be a more entertaining saga,
Unfortunately for the viewer, this tease seems to be
interrupted by the last two episodes where Saya and friends
return to Okinawa to take time off, here nothing important
about the characters happens, only a new character gets
indirectly involved, and the new destination is revealed.
These episodes seem to be and epilogue for what seems Saya’s
next adventure, however to me they seem more like fillers
(Although, I am not familiar with the manga).
As I sated before Blood + is an exceptional anime series,
the way is written and displayed extraordinarily, and
although the third volume is not a mesmerizing as the
previous ones it have some interesting scenes, I will
recommend to not let this series go, for what I have read
and hear it will drastically improved. these DVD will
managed to entertained for a good three episodes, and set
the mood for what is coming. As fan of anime I would say
that all successful series have episodes that merely adds to
the story, however sometimes there are hidden things here
that are later referred to or let the audience deduct stuff,
if anything, they will serve as a reference point for the
next adventure, and of course it is impossible, and
unprofitable for the distributors to take these episodes
from the DVD. I think this volume is a most have for fans
who are making the collection and did not bought the box
set. They already have seen these episodes and know what to
expect, if you like me have not seen the episodes but like
the first ten I advice you to rent it, watch the first three
and wait for volume four.
Episode List
Episode 11: After the Dance: The climax of the
phantom Saga
Episode 12: Lure by The White Mist: new
enemies and friends are shown.
Episode 13: Jungle Paradise: The end of the
Vietnam trip, with some interesting action scenes and a poor
final fight,
Episode 14: The Last Sunday: No Comment
Episode 15: I Want To Pursue!: No Comment
VIDEO:
Video: Full screen 1.33:1 Mastered in High Definition
AUDIO:
Audio: Stereo,
English and Japanese
Subtitle: English, French and Korean
SPECIAL FEATURES: As
its predecessor, Volume three does not have any Special
features, but then again the series by itself is more than
enough for the anime fans. What I really like, and I always
say this, is that the default format is in Japanese with
English Subtitles, but if you are lazy and do not want to be
reading you can set it in English as well.
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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VIDEO |
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AUDIO |
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| BONUS
FEATURES |
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Review
By Milo
milo@smartcine.com
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